5 Ways to Go Green in Your Garden

Spring has finally sprung, and here at Green Girl Maid Service, we are just as excited as you are. For many people, this means tending their garden or lawn that has been in hibernation during the winter. The air is charged with spring energy, so even if you’ve never gardened before, you may be inspired to start.

Gardening is a great way to enjoy the outdoors while creating beauty for others to enjoy at the same time. But some gardening practices aren’t very good for the environment. Use these eco-friendly tips to go green while gardening this spring.

1. Create your own compost.

Composting is easy and gives you two eco-friendly benefits. First, it gives you a great use for your table scraps besides adding them to a landfill. Second, it prevents you from needing to purchase nutrients from a gardening store. All you need to do to create a compost pile is get a container and fill it with your table scraps, fruit and vegetable remains, and spent coffee grounds and tea bags. Then just make sure that you are turning it every once in awhile to aerate it.

2. Water during the coolest parts of the day.

Watering is necessary, but watering during the cooler parts of the day means that the same amount of water will go much further. This is because there will be less evaporation because of the sun. Try watering right after the sun goes down, before you go to bed at night, or first thing in the morning before you head off to work.

3. Use mulch.

Mulch is another way to make your water go further than it would otherwise. While compost is there to add nutrients to your flower bed and lawn, mulch is used to help insulate your garden from evaporation, keeping moisture in longer. Mulch can be purchased at any gardening goods store. Like watering during the coolest parts of the day, using mulch will also help save you money on your monthly water bill, especially during those hot upcoming months.

4. Use natural pest control when possible.

Sure, it’s annoying when those insects and creatures interfere with your gardening efforts, but the truth is that they are there for a reason, upholding their part of the pollination process. It’s important to remember that without them, we wouldn’t have the beautiful gardens that we enjoy. Though you might be aiming to exterminate one kind of pest, you may end up harming another that’s necessary to the ecosystem that isn’t harming your flower beds.

Instead of using chemical pesticides to get rid of these little guys, try other methods. Ingredients such as cooking oil and baking soda can be combined in different ways to repel the insects you want to repel without harming them.

5. Join an urban community garden.

If you don’t have a lot of space, going green in your garden may be more work than you have time to invest in. If this is you, consider joining an urban community garden. These gardens allow those with tight urban spaces to continue to exercise their green thumb. Urban gardens reduce water use and wasted resources, and they are also cheaper and easier to maintain because maintenance is shared within the community.

Gardening is a fun and often therapeutic activity. With a few minor changes, it can be good for the environment as well!